In the summer of 2005, a local band, Tau-lau-jiat (Come Together, in Taiwanese Language, 鬥鬧熱走唱隊), completed their independent producing project including song writings, concert tours, fundraising and recording. The memorial music album, River, dedicated to the father of Taiwanese New Literature, Lai Ho (賴和), was released in late November and was distributed by Wind Music Co.
The members of the band are mostly related to Lai Ho’s hometown, Changhua, among who from interdisciplinary backgrounds are composed of medical doctors and researchers of Taiwanese literature. They want to make testimony of the chaotic era and take responsibility of the wounded history by making this music album. According to these amateur young musicians, this is an amazing encounter with a historical figure. Through imagination, exploring, rewriting and finally singing, they expect to let the paradigm of Lai Ho, whose life was based on the Japanese governess in 1920s and 1030s, to walk out from the frame of history, bridging his literary works with contemporary social issues.
In the album, there are poems written by Lai Ho himself such as Missing, The Song of Missing, Moon Light, Naughty Child and Southern Territory Lament, and those adapted from his short stories such as Steelyard, Rascals the Romanized. The song Progress is based on his essay written for the splitting Taiwan Culture Association in 1927. The theme song, River, was inspired Lai Ho’s original name: Lai Kuei-ho (with the Chinese character for the original Ho meaning ‘river’). The river is also a metaphor for the varied and changing era during with Lai Ho lived. It bears the agony of a young intellectualist under the oppression of colonial government, symbolizes the catastrophic veining of Taiwanese history, and conveys the main spirit of the whole music album.
At 3PM on December 18th, the literature band, Tau-lau-jiat will hold a press conference , When Lai Ho Is Enrooted In Islanders’ Memory, at The Wall Live House (這牆音樂藝文展演空間) in Taipei City (Roosevelt Road and Keelung Road, Exit No.1 from KungKuan MRT Station). There will be a face-to-face gathering with all Tau-lau-jiat singers and their audience. Music criticizer Yun-ping Yeh (葉雲平), Tieh-chi Chang (張鐵志) and Taiwanese literature scholar Yi-ming Jian (簡義明) are also invited to discuss over the album, re-interpret the depth of Lai Ho’s literary works from different perspectives. They also invite all the citizens to ‘come together’, joining the re-establishment of the collective memory on the island.
More information, see official weblog: http://blog.yam.com/laiho/
Contact TEL: 0921-556380 Li, Bi-chhin
Or Lai Ho Cultural Foundation: 04-7241664 / 0918-186669 Miss Tsai-Fang Chang
